NOV. 7, 2008
:NWLP
11/5/08
10:04 AM
Page 7
Carpenters Food Bank logs 25 years helping others
A lot has changed — and a lot has
remained the same — since 1983,
when Carpenters and Steelworkers
union locals established a food bank
to help out-of-work and striking union
members.
At that time, work at the shipyards
was slow, and some 400 Steelworkers
were on strike at Oregon Steel Mills
in Portland’s Rivergate District.
To help weather the storm, the Car-
penters and Steelworkers made
arrangements to combine the food as-
sistance programs that each was oper-
ating out of the same building on
North Lombard.
“It got us through some tough
times,” said Ted Totten, a member of
Steelworkers Local 3010 who was on
strike at the time. “The Faheys (Mike
and Sandy) took it over and it’s been
going strong since.”
Totten has volunteered at the food
bank for the past 25 years, alongside
Mike and Sandy Fahey. The core
group of 10 volunteers are retirees.
They are Don Powers, George Socha,
Jenny Schmuck, Jerry Schmuck, Jim
Berdadin, Ann Totten, Ted Totten, Lee
Herman, Don Peters, and Claude
McMahon.
Mike Fahey is a former executive
secretary-treasurer of the Portland
Metal Trades Council and member of
Pile Drivers, Divers and Shipwrights
Local 2416. He left the trades to start
his own mortgage company, but he
and Sandy have never given up the
food bank.
“I can relate to these people real
Carpenters Food Bank volunteers from left Don Powers, George Socha, Jenny Schmuck, Jerry Schmuck, Jim
Berdadin, Lee Herman, Ann Totten, Don Peters (beard), Ted Totten and Mike Fahey (far right) get ready to distribute
food boxes. The thee men to Fahey’s right are volunteers from the nearby Northwest Bible College. The food bank
has been operating out of the same location for tha past 25 years.
easy,” Mike Fahey said as residents
lined up outside for food boxes. “I can
remember working as a Carpenter and
when work was slow it was tough.
And there weren’t a lot of food banks
around. You’ve got to give back.”
IN MEMORIAM
Al Rettmann, a longtime member
of Medford Carpenters Local 2067 and
a past president of the former Oregon
State District Council of Carpenters,
died Oct. 19 following a courageous
battle with brain cancer. He was 77.
Allen Wayne Rettmann was born in
Winthrop, Arkansas, on Jan. 28, 1931,
to Henry Lee and Velva Rettmann.
His parents and three siblings moved
often during the Great Depression.
They eventually landed in Ashland,
Oregon in 1946.
Rettmann graduated from Ashland
High School and worked in the timber
industry before serving in the Army
during the Korean Conflict.
He married Patricia Dean on Nov. 3,
1952. They divorced in 1987. They had
two children.
Rettmann married Donna Searles of
Klamath Falls on May 4, 1991.
Rettmann was a fourth generation
Carpenter, joining the union in 1961.
Some of the major projects he worked
on were the Rogue Valley Memorial
Hospital and the Hawthorne Garden
Apartments, the first major apartment
complex in Medford.
He was elected financial secre-
NOVEMBER 7, 2008
tary/business
representative
of Local 2067
in June 1963.
He held that
post until his
retirement in
January 1993.
During
RETTMANN
that time he
helped establish an apprenticeship train-
ing program in the area.
He was elected and served for many
years as president of the Oregon State
District Council of Carpenters. The
council later was disbanded and merged
into what is today the Pacific Northwest
District Council of Carpenters.
Rettmann is survived by his wife,
Donna; step-daughter Denise Gunther
of Stayton, Ore.; son Michael of Kla-
math Falls, Ore.; daughter Debbie
Wilchek of Central Point, Ore.; sister
Elaine Hoadley of Medford; brother
Charles Rettmann of Grants Pass, and
several grandchildren and great-grand-
children.
A memorial service was held Oct.
25 at Community Bible Church in Cen-
tral Point.
The food bank isn’t restricted to
union members. Anyone in need can
utilize it.
“We serve people on strike, out of
work, retirees on fixed incomes,
young people, families, everybody,”
Fahey said. “Nobody leaves without a
food box.”
And the consensus is that the Car-
penters Food Bank puts together one
of the best food boxes in the city. “We
have chickens, roasts, ham ... and
turkeys at Thanksgiving,” Fahey said.
Food boxes are distributed the third
Friday each month from 9 a.m. to 2
p.m. (people start lining up as early as
5 a.m.) at the union building on the
corner of North Lombard Street and
Brandon Avenue. Carpenters Local
247 owns the building and donates the
space for storage.
The Food Bank distributes between
450 to 650 boxes a month. Since its
inception in 1983 — when they were
turning out 850 boxes of food a week
— the food bank has provided mil-
lions of meals to needy residents.
And though it is an all-volunteer
operation and the space is donated, it
costs money to buy the food from the
Oregon Food Bank. It takes gas to get
it, too. [Some food boxes are deliv-
ered to those who can’t get out, and to
schools.]
With the holiday season rapidly ap-
proaching, the economy in the tank,
workers being laid off, and more than
1,000 Machinists coming off a 57-day
strike at Boeing, and another 200
Teamsters still on strike at Oak Har-
bor Trucking, Fahey is bracing for a
very busy November and December.
“Even at bulk rate prices, food items
are becoming more and more expen-
sive,” he said.
Cash donations to help buy food
are in desperate need. Contributions
can be sent to:
Food Bank
P.O. Box 17358
Portland, OR 97217
Silverton city employees choose Laborers Local 483
The union that represents road, wa-
ter and sewer workers at the City of
Portland has been expanding to small
towns in the Willamette Valley. On
Sept. 22, a unit of 15 workers at the
City of Silverton Public Works De-
partment voted to join Laborers Local
483.
For decades, the employees had
bargained on their own with the city,
as part of an independent employee as-
sociation. But this year they weren’t
able to get an acceptable offer from
management, said Laborers organizer
Tobias Green, so they called Local
483.
The workers are responsible for
wastewater treatment, street mainte-
nance and repair, and parks for Silver-
ton, which has a population of about
9,500. Silverton has grown in recent
years, and public works employees
want the city to add staff, and give
wage increases that at least keep pace
with inflation.
Local 483 also represents public
works employees at nearby Mt. Angel,
and police employees at Gervais.
The Marco Consulting Group
I NVESTMENT C ONSULTANTS TO
M ULTI -E MPLOYER B ENEFIT F UNDS
CORRECTION
In the Oct. 17 issue, the Northwest
Labor Press wrongly reported an elec-
tion loss for Laborers Local 483 in the
“Local Motion” feature, which lists
union organizing wins and losses. In
fact, Local 483 won the election at the
City of Silverton Public Works Depart-
ment. The vote was 13 for Local 483, 0
for no union, and 1 to keep a stand-
alone employee association. All eligi-
ble members of the bargaining unit
voted.
The NW Labor Press regrets the er-
ror.
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Please call Jason Zenk at 253-376-3391
Midwest Office
550 W Washington Blvd
Ninth Floor
Chicago, IL 60661
p: 312-575-9000
F: 312-575-9840
East Coast Office
1220 Adams St
First Floor
Boston, MA 02124
p: 617-298-0967
F: 617-298-0966
www.marcoconsulting.com
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